It’s said that necessity is the mother of invention and Norway, with its challenging weather conditions and harsh climate, has, by necessity, been an innovator on the maritime front since viking times. More specifically, the west coast region of Møre, which has the official designation of Norwegian Centre of Expertise – Maritime, with its 12 design companies, 17 shipowners, 13 shipyards and 161 equipment suppliers employing 21,000 dedicated employees is home to one ofthe most dynamic, innovative maritime clusters in the world.
These companies are driving innovation in a high tech, high-end specialized part of the industry, using the North Sea as their proving ground. Sixty percent of the world’s offshore supply vessels are based on Norwegian designs originated in the cluster.
Kjell Moltu-Jacobsen, advisor with the Aalesund Knowledge Park, which facilitate the NCE-M project, said that the facilitator’s role is to challenge the members of the cluster to innovate, to support the development of the infrastructure in support of the cluster - for example by supporting educational initiatives and recruiting high skilled and competent employees. Also the geographical infrastructure, roads and the like, is an important element of the NCE-M project as the cluster needs to be one region for labour mobility.
NCE-M also focus on the maritime cluster’s international cooperation. For example, the NCE-M is currently assisting in the establishment of a similar set-up of a Maritime Centre of Expertise Incubator) in Romania.
An important part of the equation in the success of the cluster is the willingness to take risks on the part of all parties involved—charterers and oil majors are willing to demand innovations and designers and shipbuilders, supported by class societies, are willing to explore new ideas together with shipowners in the area. The expertise and know-how of the people in the region underpins the entire enterprise. And it doesn’t hurt that everyone knows one another, so often ideas born in informal settings end up as tomorrow’s innovations.
The Norwegian maritime cluster centered in the Ålesund region is breaking waves in the maritime industry—rooted in geography and history they are striving to create breakthroughs and lead the way in innovating the entire maritime industry.